Mayors from some of Sydney’s most diverse areas have thrown their support behind a Western Sydney council’s choice to mandate the use of English on the shopfronts of local businesses but have questioned its enforceability.Strathfield Council, which oversees a local government area where more than 70 per cent of residents speak a language other than English, voted in favour of a motion to force local business owners to use English on their signage during an ordinary meeting late last month.The mayors of Liverpool and Fairfield have since indicated their support for the motion in principle, but they questioned whether it was the role of a local council to push for such measures.Introduced by Liberal councillor Esther Kim, the motion said businesses within the local area should “ensure that where shopfront signs or advertising include languages other than English, English should also be displayed clearly and prominently”.Fairfield Mayor Frank Carbone said it wasn’t a “bad idea” but local councils weren’t equipped to enforce such a policy.“We would expect that if you’re a local business that ultimately you want customers, and they come from different places and different backgrounds – but the truth of the matter is our national language is English,” Mr Carbone said.“It’s definitely something we would like to see because ultimately we want our migrants to come here, build their lives, contribute and also be part of our culture. Part of that culture is speaking English.”Mr Carbone said he was a big supporter of “letting businesses get on with their job” and acknowledged the potential frustration business owners could face thanks to costs affiliated with updating signage.“At the end of the day, we don’t want to cost people more money … but ultimately you would think that a business owner with common sense would understand, especially in a diverse place like Fairfield, which has more than 130 different communities, you’re cutting yourself short by appealing to just one community,” he said.“Councils are certainly not the sole custodians of signs … passing that motion would be impossible.”Liverpool Mayor Ned Mannoun said the NSW government had created an environment where debates like this could take place because of a lack of legislative clarity.“I think consistency is important and I think the state government should be leading on this,” he said.“People are getting overly worked up about this because there is not enough work being done to clarify what the rules are.“In issues like this, it should be straightforward. The Minister for Planning should just get his pen out and say ‘yes, sorry it’s an oversight, all signs should be in both languages – English, and whatever else you want’.”The vote passed without the support of Strathfield Mayor Benjamin Cai and Labor councillor Rory Nosworthy.On Tuesday, Mr Nosworthy said none of his constituents had previously raised the issue and he didn’t feel like he was being disadvantaged as an English speaker.“Living in the area, I don’t notice this being a problem. Since the meeting, I’ve been through the town centres, double checking, and as far as I can tell most signs are already translated to English,” he said.“We’re looking for a problem that doesn’t exist as far as I can tell. We haven’t had residents complain, and from my perspective, it came from nowhere … I’m just not sure of the logic behind it.”According to the Department of Home Affairs, the English language is “an important unifying element of Australian society”.The NSW Department of Planning has been approached for comment.Read related topics:Sydney